The Unconditional Trilogy
by Seraphix
Summary: Sasuke can't celebrate Naruto's birthday with him on the actual day, so they always have the celebration a day ahead. But Naruto isn't going to take that anymore... Slash, SasuNaru and sideSasuHina
1. Chapter 1

**Unconditional: The Day Before**

**_8th October_**

Na-chan,

I'll be waiting for you at the usual place tomorrow evening at 8.

Love,  
'suke.

Naruto sat back on his well-worn sofa and let out a soft sigh while he fiddled with the scrap of paper between his forefinger and his thumb. He didn't know if he should feel flattered or disgusted, but he knew one thing for sure.

And that was that this had gone on for long enough, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let it continue anymore.

* * *

**_Past_**

Sasuke had returned from Sound about 6 years ago, after destroying Orochimaru with the knowledge that the Sannin had imparted to him. It was a long and hard battle, as the then chuunin chose to turn on his master on an epiphany just days before the soul transfer was supposed to take place. This epiphany had been a result of Kabuto's drinking, as each time he drank, he would get horrendously drunk and start to sing songs, obscene and not, from Konoha. When Sasuke went drinking with him for the first time to take his mind off the soul transfer which was to take place in a week's time, Kabuto had sung a rather somber song about the Yondaime and the Kyuubi, triggering an onslaught of emotions in him as he saw Naruto's blue eyes in his Sapphire Martini.

Two days later, he had made his decision to forget about the transfer and return to Konoha.

Both sides had used jutsus that nearly flattened three quarters of the village, but Sasuke had emerged victorious and he left the village bruised and broken, but not without standing at the village gates and looking back at the village he spent 3 years in to say his final goodbyes to it.

"I'm going home," he said.

And with that, he turned his back on Sound and had never once looked back.

Journeying to Konoha was difficult with the injuries that he had sustained in his battle with Orochimaru, but returning to Konoha made it seem like a walk in the park. He was arrested by the Anbu as soon as he was within a mile of Konoha, and it had taken a 3 month long trial before he was officially allowed to remain in the village. The old rookie 9 remained mostly distrustful of him, but things gradually got easier a little while later.

Because that was when Naruto returned.

Sasuke's trial had taken place in absence of Naruto, who had been on a 6 month long undercover mission in Mist. Naruto took Sasuke back as his best friend, his rival, unconditionally, sat with him and cheered him up when he threw tantrums of being disallowed any mission higher than B rank or when he simply grew melancholic about the past when he was allowed to move freely in and out of the village. He even offered himself up as a punching bag when Sasuke showed signs of needing to vent his anger on something. The two grew close, closer than friends, and then one night, they found themselves making out and the rest was pretty much history.

It was during this period of time when Sasuke learnt the concept of "unconditional", and vowed to give Naruto as much as he had been given.

The relationship was kept under wraps though, because the Kyuubi vessel was still disliked by the villagers and the traitor was, well, he was a traitor that cost Konoha many of its best ninjas. But the rookie 9 knew of it, and that was when Sasuke was finally accepted back into their fold. Because they knew Naruto, protected him, and loved him unconditionally; and if that meant getting to know the Uchiha all over again, they would do so for Naruto's sake.

But as the Fates would have it, good things in life never lasted for long.

* * *

**_8th October_**

It had been the same thing for the past 3 years. Two days before any couple would deem as an important date in a year, he would receive a note slipped under his apartment door. It was the same thing for New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, White Day and Christmas.

And of course, Naruto's birthday.

* * *

**_Past_**

Three years after Sasuke's return, and nearly as long after they became a couple, Sasuke turned 20. Sasuke, together with Naruto, had approached Tsunade for her blessings to become a bonded pair, to be recognized as the equivalent of a married couple, but she refused to do so and had simply shaken her head sadly as she passed a scroll to the young Uchiha.

"Sasuke, this was found in the storage room of the Hokage tower just a day ago when we were cleaning it out. I meant to pass it to you sooner but didn't know how to do so…"

"Just…just read it, will you?"

Sasuke looked at Tsunade with a blank stare. What could possibly interfere with his bonding with Naruto? It was then when Naruto noticed the seal on the scroll and paled drastically.

It was a seal that only appeared on documents that were concerned with marriage.

He trembled as he reached for Sasuke's hand. Sasuke turned to look at his boyfriend, and then realized what Naruto was staring at. He tightened his hold for a moment on that tanned hand, and whispered softly.

"It'll be alright. It has to be…"

The scroll was opened, and each word was like a signature on the death warrant of their relationship.

_Approved and affirmed by Uchiha Fugaku and Hyuuga Hiashi_

_I, Uchiha Fugaku, approve and affirm my son, Uchiha Sasuke's, marriage to Hyuuga Hinata when he becomes of age_

_and_

_I, Hyuuga Hiashi, approve and affirm my daughter, Hyuuga Hinata's, marriage to Uchiha Sasuke when he becomes of age._

_This marriage contract waswitnessed and affirmed by Sarutobi (Sandaime)._

It was simple, it was short, and it was to the point. It didn't provide a reason for the union, nor explain its purpose. But it was more than enough. Naruto just crumpled into a heap on the floor, unsure of how to deal with the blow of having the only person ever to tell him that he loved him taken away from him. Sasuke stood like a statue of ice, gripping the scroll so tightly in his hand that the wooden ends broke. Tsunade could only look on helplessly, unable to do anything to change what the situation had come down to.

An hour later, Hyuuga Hiashi turned up at the Hokage tower with a teary-eyed Hinata in tow, who later knelt in front of Naruto and begged for his forgiveness for having taken his lover away from him without even knowing. Naruto was standing upright by then, but his face had taken the hard edge of someone who had seen too much and simply given up on the world and hope itself. He was deaf to Hinata's sobs, and simply stood stock-still as Sasuke was taken aside by Hiashi to be told that he could marry Hinata or further disgrace the Uchiha line.

It was decided that the marriage would take place a week later.

* * *

**_8th October_**

Their usual place was the training ground of their old team when Team 7 had still existed. But in all the recent times that Naruto had been there with Sasuke, it had never looked anything like the ravaged training grounds of their childhood. Last Christmas, it was a little clearing with a log cabin in the middle of it; for New Year's Eve, they had their very own little display of fireworks in that small patch of the forest.

But that did not take away the fact that the occasions were all celebrated a day before. Valentine's Day for Naruto and Sasuke was 13th February, while Christmas Eve was 23rd December and so on. What this meant, was that though Naruto did have a special celebration for each day, he was left alone on the actual occasion, given that he had no other family to celebrate the days with. True enough, his friends tried to make him feel less lonely on those days, but the bottom line was that such occasions were meant to be spent with your spouses and kin, not your friends.

* * *

**_Past_**

On the night before the wedding, Sasuke appeared at Naruto's window sill in an almost Kakashi-esqe manner and woke Naruto up in a manner which was much gentler than was to be expected of him.

"Na-chan. Wake up please. We need to talk."

But even with his gentleness, Naruto woke up with his eyes wild, looking like a man possessed. The mixture of sadness and angst in his unfocused gazed quickly gave way to a chilly indifference.

"Uchiha-san. You will be married tomorrow. It is improper for you to be found in…"

Here, Naruto's words faltered. What was he? A mere fuck that could be thrown aside for the approval of a dead clan? Or a lover that was pushed aside so a man could fulfill his honor and destiny?

"…the company of someone else besides your fiancé. Please leave."

The hurt was evident in Sasuke's stoic face, but he had to say his piece before he was thrown out of Naruto's life.

"Na-chan…"

"Please refrain from calling me that again. You will be mar…"

"I know! Fuck. I know I'm getting married tomorrow. That's why I'm here! If I weren't getting married, I wouldn't HAVE to be here. Please, Na-chan, just listen."

Naruto had spent enough time with Sasuke to read his emotions. What he saw now, was that Sasuke would be too stubborn to leave, and that he had something which he really thought was important to be said. And truth to be told, he wanted, no, needed to hear what Sasuke had to say.

"Alright. Just…make it painless, please," his voice coming out in a hoarse whisper.

"We don't have to end, Na-chan. You see it? Hinata knows about us, you saw how she pleaded with you that day in the Hokage tower. She will allow us to be together, even after she and I are married, even after we have kids!"

The desperation in Sasuke's eyes was clear, and was made even more obvious with his rambling tone. He had never adopted such a tone, and his tantrums were more in a sulky-I-will-destroy-everything-in-the-house manner. But Naruto couldn't help himself. He found his blood boiling at the thought of Sasuke even entertaining the idea of two-timing him, even if they were force into the situation. He couldn't bring himself to share Sasuke, much less think of him having children with Hinata.

"You bastard," Naruto ground out. "You made your decision. Uchiha honor over your 'Na-chan'. Now live with it!"

With that, he threw a hard punch at Sasuke, one which the Uchiha did not bother to dodge. At the same time, Naruto's verbal assault continued, increasing in strength and anger. He knew that he deserved everything that Naruto threw at him, and he knew that the barrage of punches and kicks from the blond ninja, if things did not go the way that he wanted, could possibly be the last physical contact that he'd have of him. So he stood there and took it, until Naruto's fists simply became light brushes against his skin, and tears started to fall from his blue eyes as his voice dropped to no more than a whimper.

"Stupid, stupid bastard. I can't. I can't do what you said…"

Sasuke wrapped his arms around his distraught lover. If only he wasn't an Uchiha, but nothing could be changed now. But that didn't mean that he would give up. No, he would make Naruto see that he would love him no less as Hinata's husband than simply as Naruto's lover. Planting a small, chaste kiss of the blond's lips, he made up his mind.

The next day, whispers and rumors ran rampant in town when Uchiha Sasuke turned up at his wedding bruised and beaten up.

* * *

**_8th October_**

Tomorrow's meeting would definitely be a celebration for his birthday. While the 10th of October used to be a day of sorrow and angst for him because of the Kyuubi and the villagers that would torture him more on that day, it was now the celebration for the defeat of the Kyuubi that made his life miserable.

On the 10th of October, the village's most prestigious clans and members would attend a dinner held at the Hokage tower with their spouses, and that was where Sasuke had to be on the night of his birthday. Thus the celebration for his birthday would have to be brought forward, and he would spend the actual day of his birthday hiding from the world.

When they had first gotten together, Naruto had very much looked forward to the day when he could head out with Sasuke on his birthday to the Kyuubi Festival, dressed regally in their yukatas and turning heads with their affection for each other.

Needless to say, it never did happen.

* * *

**_Past_**

Naruto took on an inordinate amount of missions after Sasuke's marriage. He would return from a mission, rest for a day in his apartment before leaving on the next one. However, each time he returned from his mission, Sasuke would be there, waiting for his return and to open the door for him. Naruto threw a fit the first time, and had promptly kicked Sasuke out of the house. It was only after Sasuke's departure that Naruto realized that a hot meal had been waiting for him in the kitchen, and the bath was run and his sheets changed, waiting for him to settle in.

While he might not be the brightest crayon in the box, Naruto recognized effort when he saw it. And he knew that Sasuke would just angst himself to death if he couldn't do anything for Naruto at all, so he decided on the spot that he would allow Sasuke this little peace of mind.

So the next time Sasuke opened the door, he wordlessly passed him his pack while he headed for the bathroom for a hot bath.

The change was incremental. Each time he got back, Sasuke would stay a little longer. At first he would be gone by the time Naruto came out of the bath, then it became that he would stay until Naruto came out of the bath. The next time, he stayed and watched the blond eat, and soon after, when Naruto placed a set of utensils in front of him, joined him for the meal. Soon after, he was sleeping on Naruto's couch for the night.

It wasn't long before they were sharing the same bed again. Sasuke would hold Naruto close to his chest, feeling Naruto's breaths even out as he gradually drifted off into deep sleep. Some nights he'd have to wake Naruto up from his nightmares, while other nights he'd just settle in and watch Naruto sleep.

But never once did Sasuke fall asleep in Naruto's company. It was almost as though the Uchiha was determined to have his eyes on Naruto for every moment that they were together.

The night that they rekindled their relationship to the bright spark it once was before the Hyuuga marriage fiasco, was when Naruto had returned from a mission, feverish from the poison in his bloodstream. Naruto had been struck by a senbon on the mission during an ambush attack, but with the Kyuubi's help, the effects of the poison had been reduced to a simple, but high fever. He hadn't gone to the Hokage tower for help, for it had been late when he reached the village. But more importantly, Naruto knew that Sasuke was at his apartment, and he didn't want to keep him waiting. So he stumbled home, crashing into Sasuke's arms when the door opened to his unsteady footsteps.

"Na-chan! Oh god. What happened!"

The only reply from "Na-chan" had been a slurred 'I've missed you' before he blacked out.

Sasuke spent the night taking care of Naruto. Undeniably, it had taken some time before he could calm down enough to do anything, but by 3a.m. in the morning, Naruto's fever was on the decline, and he was sleeping properly, not the fevered, restless sleep of the sick. Sasuke pulled up a chair and watched over him as he slept, his mind filled with the horrors of what would have happened if Naruto didn't have the Kyuubi to keep him alive, or if Naruto had been struck with something stronger than the standard senbon poison, or what if Naruto had…

When Naruto woke up the next day, it was well past noon. Sasuke was still watching over him, his eyes bloodshot from exhaustion. When he saw Naruto's eyes open, he couldn't control himself and the tears came.

"You idiot! What would I have done if you had…" he trailed off as the hiccupping sobs took over.

Naruto stared at this stoic ex-boyfriend in wonder. He didn't know what to make of the situation, but reached up with his hand and gently wiped away the tears that streamed down the pale face.

"You're crying…don't cry 'suke. I'm okay…shush…"

Sasuke then gave up all the self discipline that he had built up from the moment that he started taking care of Naruto. He gripped Naruto's wrist tightly, but not hard enough to bruise, and pressed it to his heart while he bent over and pressed his lips against his Na-chan's. Several months' worth of pent-up frustration and love came out in a flood, as Sasuke's lips worked fervently to coax a reply from the man that he loved. He had waited so long for this, and he had needed to know what Naruto thought about them so damn much.

Naruto didn't disappoint.

When the familiarity of Sasuke flooded his senses, he instinctively kissed back with as much enthusiasm as he could muster up in his newly recovered state, running his tongue over Sasuke's teeth, palate and tongue, memorizing the familiar, remembering the foreign. Sasuke released Naruto's hand and shifted himself off the chair onto the bed, supporting himself with his elbows such that he was just gently resting on Naruto's body, while Naruto started to run his hands up and down Sasuke's sides. But what hit Naruto the hardest was the feeling of Sasuke's tears running down his face.

And suddenly, it was Naruto's turn to understand "unconditional".

He loved Sasuke unconditionally, and if that meant allowing him to reclaim the pride of the Uchihas by marrying into another influential family, he would give him his blessings to do so. He would love all there was about Sasuke. He would love him for two-timing his wife, he would love the children that Sasuke had with the Hyuuga heiress, and he would love him for waiting for him after each mission.

But most of all, he would love Sasuke for risking his family's honor for continuing their forbidden relationship.

Naruto tilted his head a little to the left, deepening the kiss and eliciting a moan from Sasuke. It had been too long since Naruto had been with someone, while Sasuke was simply trembling from the nervousness and worry about finally being with his beloved again. They fumbled to strip each other, and when they were finally naked, Sasuke drew back and looked at Naruto, and the two smiled at each other almost shyly. Then they had fell into each other with a hunger that neither had ever felt before, kissing and touching and loving like there was no tomorrow.

And it had gone on from there.

Sasuke assured Naruto that Hinata never said a word about their relationship, though she knew of his infidelity. In fact, she would smile softly at him each time he left to take care of Naruto, and would let him sleep off whatever tiredness he acquired at Naruto's place when he returned.

And that was how the last three years were passed.

* * *

**_8th October_**

It used to be enough, but it wasn't anymore. Naruto was used to taking what he could get, with what little he was used to having in his childhood, but as he grew up, "what he could get" simply wasn't enough anymore. When he was young, he knew of hate, so he wanted tolerance. When he found tolerance, he wanted acceptance. After that he wanted friendship, and when he knew of friendship…

He wanted love.

And now that he had love, he wanted a life with the one he loved. He wanted the sun on them as they walked through the town, fingers laced together; he wanted his friends referring to them as "Naruto and Sasuke". He wanted to be the one wearing a shirt with the Uchiha crest, and he wanted Sasuke to have the Uzumaki spiral proudly tattooed on his wrist, so that each time he shook hands with someone new, they'd know that Sasuke was Naruto's.

But it was apparent that it was not going to happen any time soon. Hinata was heavy with their first child, and the entire Hyuuga clan was joyous with their anticipation of the birth. He knew he should not be feeling this way, for Sasuke was still there each time he returned from a mission, ready to please him in everyway possible, from a sweet cuddle to hot, angry sex. And the thing was, he knew the source of this emptiness that he felt. It was because Sasuke would talk to him about his soon-to-be born child, with a light shining in his eyes and a smile on his face. Naruto could tell that his lover was looking forward to being a father, and not wanting to dampen his spirits, he had plastered on a smile on his face and asked if he could be the godfather.

Sasuke had grinned almost heartbreakingly wide and nodded his head in agreement, then pulled Naruto close for a kiss.

Knowing the source for his unhappiness just made Naruto think that he was all the more shallow and lousy as a human being. But he couldn't help it. It came as a package. Kyuubi vessel, Konoha elite jounin, Sasuke's Na-chan, and HUMAN.

And so the human made a decision.

* * *

**_9th October_**

Sasuke blew out the candles and buried his face in his hands. It was well past midnight, and he was more than certain that Naruto would not be turning up that night.

Where did he go wrong?

(TBC)


	2. Chapter 2

__A/N: Here's the next chapter. I hope it's enjoyed as well!

* * *

**The Unconditional Trilogy: The Day Itself**

**  
**  
**_10th October  
_**  
It was 1 a.m. when Sasuke finally raised his hands to form the seals for the teleportation jutsu, disappearing from the clearing soundlessly, with no fanfare or smoke. The quiet exit served as an accurate reflection of his heart at the moment.

Empty, tired and lost.

* * *

**_9th October  
_**  
Sasuke woke up with a very out of place smile on his usually stoic face. If there was any day that he loved in the year, it would be the 9th of October. Because it was his dobe's birthday, and the truth was, he loved nothing more than to go all out and extravagant to make Naruto's birthday special for him. It was almost as though he wanted to make up for all the birthdays that he had missed, from the time when Naruto had been young with no friends to speak of, to the time when he had spent in Sound and missed three of his then best friend's birthdays.

And he was going to make today's celebration the best that Naruto ever had.

He turned to look at Hinata's pregnant form lying next to him. Yes, they had consummated their marriage, but only at the insistence of Hyuuga Hiashi. The man had persistently hounded Sasuke and Hinata about a grandchild, and after two years of his insistence, Sasuke and Hinata had finally given in to his demands. The straw that had broken the camel's back of the young couple's resistance had been Hyuuga Hiashi's threat to disown Hinata and leave her without a family name. Hiashi went as far as to put it down on paper and submitting the scroll to village elders for safekeeping, that if Sasuke and Hinata failed to conceive a child by the end of the year, or if Sasuke ever divorced Hinata, Hinata would be disowned. Hinata had been on the verge of agreeing to be disowned, as she felt that being out of the family left her free to leave Sasuke, which would in turn allow Sasuke to be with Naruto.

But Sasuke was vehement against her rationale. Hinata was a good woman, and he loved her, though not in the way of a man and wife, for allowing him to continue his relationship with Naruto on the side of their marriage. It would have been a blow to her virtue in society's eyes if that was ever known, but she didn't care. She had given him that much, and he felt that helping her stay within the Hyuuga clan was something that he could do for her.

* * *

**_Past  
_**  
Sasuke spent the night before he and Hinata did the deed at Naruto's apartment. As they laid together, their bodies cooling rapidly from their prior bout of frantic lovemaking, Sasuke spooned closer to Naruto and buried his face into the sweaty blond locks, breathing in the heady scent of love and sex that emanated from Naruto at the moment. It was an issue that would make or break their relationship, but if he did not tell Naruto of the consummation, he just knew that the consequences would be much worse.

"Na-chan, there's something I need to tell you."

A soft, question 'hmm' was heard.

"Hiashi…he's been pressurizing Hinata and I to have a child. You know that right? I've never touched her before, and I hadn't intended to do so. But two days ago, he threatened that he would disown Hinata if we did not have a child by the end of this year, and she would be kicked out of the clan. The same goes for if I ever try to divorce her. Hiashi is such an asshole!"

Naruto grew stiff in his arms. Sasuke tightened his hold on Naruto, and planted a few soft kisses on the bare shoulder before him in an attempt to try and coax the tension out of Naruto, but it was to no avail. He sighed softly then started to speak again.

"Hinata's been lovely to us, Na-chan. If not for her, I wouldn't be here, holding the man I love more than life itself. I can't let her lose her family name. It wouldn't be right. She wanted to be disowned so you and I could be together. But even without that, she had pretty much given up her life for us. When she married me it was to please her father, but after that, she's spent her days alone, because unlike me, she doesn't have someone outside her marriage that she loves and is loved by."

"Please Na-chan. You know I love you, and that's a luxury that we couldn't have if not for Hinata. Try to understand where I'm coming from."

Naruto was silent for a moment, and then he twisted around in the protective circle of Sasuke's arms, and buried his face into his lover's chest. When he spoke, his voice was muffled as his lips were pressed against Sasuke's skin, yet the sadness and conviction could not be hidden.

"Just…just promise me that you'll come back to me."

Sasuke clutched Naruto even more tightly to him, and shifted his legs to tangle with his blond lover's. It was times at this when he remembered how unconditional his Naruto's love was, for him, and for all his friends.

When Sasuke finally had sex with Hinata, it was with the lights off and above the sheets, with a sort of clinical precision that they had agreed upon without words.

* * *

**_10th October  
_**  
The teleportation jutsu brought him straight into the room that he shared with Hinata, and in his emotional state, Sasuke couldn't be bothered to keep his footsteps soft. What he failed to notice, was that Hinata was awake, lying on here back at staring at the ceiling in the dark, as though she was waiting for his return.

On Sasuke's arrival, she turned on the lamp by their bedside, and saw right through Sasuke's expressionless features.

"Sasuke-san, you're back early. Did something go wrong?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment, before he moved to stand in front of the window. Casting his gaze over the forest that the window opened to, he whispered.

"He didn't come…"

* * *

**_9th October  
_**  
Sasuke went about his morning routine quickly, before he woke Hinata up with a gentle nudge and a soft good morning. When she was done, they headed to the kitchen together.

Hinata had found the recipe for him, and took him through the instructions step by step. It was a complicated recipe for cupcakes, Chocolate Bread Pudding Cupcakes with Toasted Walnuts, Homemade Toffee, and Cream to be exact. Being a genius at all sorts of jutsus didn't help him one bit in cooking, for while he could control his Katon jutsus from fireballs to tiny flames, he couldn't, for the life of him, control the fire on the stove to ensure that the toffee didn't burn.

The thing which did help him though, was his Sharingan. Apparently his bloodline did a lot more than copy jutsus, if one set his heart to it.

So two hours after Hinata demonstrated how to make the cupcakes, Sasuke replicated her movements step by step, creating lovingly a perfect batch of 24 cupcakes. Naruto was happiest when Sasuke made food for him, for after years of eating ramen by virtue of it being cheap, home-cooked food was the one thing that made him feel loved beyond words. Furthermore, Naruto had a sweet tooth that was unrivalled in Konoha, so the cupcakes would suit his tastes perfectly.

After the cupcakes were ready, Sasuke started to prepare the picnic basket of soft bread, cold cuts, a salad, wine and wineglasses for dinner that night. Hinata stood at the doorway of the kitchen, one hand gently caressing the large bulge of her stomach as a small smile spread across her face.

Sasuke, her stoic, expressionless husband, was cheerfully preparing dinner for his blond lover's birthday celebration, whistling happily and smiling to himself.

* * *

**_Past  
_**  
Sasuke's face was perpetually, for the lack of a better word, empty during the first week of their marriage. He went through the motions of life, waking up in the morning, and heading over to the missions' room for his mission scroll, finished his mission and came home. He was a soulless doll, and this was not helped by Naruto's absence. Naruto had failed to turn up for Sasuke and Hinata's marriage, and when Sasuke had burst into the Hokage's room demanding to know where his blond lover was, the Hokage had simply said,

"Mission."

The 'mission' lasted for more than a month, and Sasuke took as many duties as he could in the Hokage tower so that he could keep track of Naruto's mission, what with the Hokage receiving regular reports from Naruto. Hinata could only watch helplessly as her husband pined after his absent lover, but she went on with her own life, and it was there that she realized that her family was suspicious of Sasuke continuing his relationship with Naruto outside of his marriage. At the same time, she saw that Sasuke and she had to put on a convincing front if her clan's elders were to be shielded from the reality of Sasuke and Naruto's continuing affair.

With a little coaxing and education from her part, the Uchiha orphan recognized that he was simply putting any possible relationship that he might salvage with Naruto would be put in jeopardy if he failed to put on a cohesive front for his marriage with Hinata. The Hyuuga elders would simply use their powers in the village to prevent any chance of him even speaking with Naruto again.

So he learnt. In a fortnight, Sasuke learnt to be the perfect husband, bringing his wife for twice weekly visits to her clan, learnt to hold her hand in the presence of others, and learnt to kiss her cheek when she stayed over at her family home. He felt like a hypocrite, but Hinata's education woke him up. He had to plan to succeed in repairing his relationship with Naruto. He continued his pestering Tsunade for duties in the Hokage tower, keeping close tabs on when Naruto would return.

And when Naruto returned, he put his plan in action.

He decided that he would be there for Naruto to return home to, to take care of Naruto's weariness when he returned from each trip. It hurt, it hurt like a bitch when Naruto kicked him out the first time he returned from that month-long mission. But Sasuke wasn't going to give up anytime soon. So he was there when Naruto returned from his next mission, and the next, and the one after. And with each time that Naruto allowed him to stay, he felt a sense of triumph bubbling through him.

Staying over in Naruto's house was a step forward, for it meant that Naruto trusted him enough to let him stay around his sleeping, defenseless person.

While the biggest step in their renewed relationship was when Naruto returned home injured, and they had made love the next day, the single day which Sasuke would remember the most was when he held Naruto in his arms for the first time since the night before his marriage.

Naruto had been asleep in his room, with his door slightly ajar. Sasuke was sitting straight up on the couch, unable to sleep as his senses were hyperaware of every breath that his beloved took, every toss and every turn that he made. So it was no surprise that when Naruto let out a soft whimper of fear, Sasuke sprang to his feet and made his way quickly to the door to check on Naruto. He hesitated at the door, before resolutely peeking in.

The single beam of light that entered Naruto's room fell exactly upon his Na-chan's face, lighting up the blond locks and made the tanned face look almost ethereal in the dark. Sasuke felt his breath caught in his chest. Just more than a month ago, he had decided to spend the rest of his life with this man, existing not as two individuals, but as one couple. That was before his cozy little world fell apart with the appearance of a single scroll at the Hokage tower, before he was goaded by Hyuuga Hiashi into marrying a woman that he did not love for the sake of restoring his clan's honor. To tell the truth, it was a hasty decision, one that rode on the rollercoaster state that his emotions were in on the day of his birthday.

He knew that he had made the wrong choice the moment after he agreed to it, but Hyuuga Hiashi didn't let him retract his promise. Even now, he could hear the Hyuuga clan head's words ringing in his ear.

"Go back on your word, Uchiha, go back on your father's word, and I'll make sure that the Kyuubi boy has his throat slit in his bed. And if it boils down to that, your family's honor will be destroyed beyond anything that Uchiha Itachi could do."

So he had stuck it out with the marriage to protect Naruto. And lied to the Hyuuga elders that he was no longer seeing the Kyuubi vessel.

The perfection that was Naruto's face illuminated in the beam of light was marred by the expression on his face. The blond's brow was tight, and his face gleamed with the cold sweat of nightmares. Sasuke wanted nothing more than to hold him in his arms and comfort him through whatever nightmare he was having, to chase away the demons and keep his Na-chan safe. But he hesitated, hesitated because he did not know if Naruto would be please with his actions, because he had no right to touch Naruto after all the hurt had he had put him through. He placed a hand on the doorknob to the room, almost as though he was hoping that it would bring him a little closer to Naruto and that his touch would calm and soothe.

Suddenly, Naruto's whimpers became words.

"No no no…'suke! Don't leave…"

The voice that had rose in a crescendo to reach a peak fell to a hoarse whisper.

"Don't leave me alone again."

And Sasuke's resolution broke. He pushed the door open and slipped into Naruto's bed, pulling the blond into his arms. All his hesitation had departed from him when he knew that he was the one who created Naruto's nightmare, because he had to face up to what he did, as a man and as a lover. Naruto, in his post-mission exhaustion did not wake up, but his whimpers gently softened then silenced, as his breathing took on a more even, calmed rhythm.

All the while, Sasuke stoked his beloved's head with pale, trembling fingers, bringing Naruto out of his nightmare into normal sleep. Under his breath, he chanted softly…

"I'm sorry I'm sorry god I'm so sorry…"

The next morning, Naruto woke up in Sasuke's arms, and instead of freaking out, he smiled gently at Sasuke in familiarity. Then a blush colored his cheeks as he turned his eyes down, obviously remembering his nightmare from the night before and deducing why Sasuke was holding him. A mumbled "thanks" later, Naruto squirmed out of Sasuke's embrace and headed for the toilet.

Thereafter, Sasuke slept in Naruto's bed every night that he spent in the blond's apartment.

* * *

**_9th October  
_**  
Sasuke wasn't the sappy sort, but he knew how much little gestures like baking a cake, or planning the ambience for dinner meant to his partner. He tried to give Naruto everything that he could materially, for he always felt that whatever he had to give emotionally was insufficient.

Yes, Sasuke felt that he could never give Naruto enough back, and that was why he was currently trying to figure out how to carry the gigantic picnic basket without shaking it and spoiling its contents while forming the necessary seals to teleport to the training grounds.

* * *

**_Past  
_**  
On his return, it had been Naruto who took care of him. While the medic nins of Konoha, Sakura included, were under strict instructions to keep him alive for the trial, they were not asked to do more than that. This meant that most of them never made any effort to do more than make sure that his wounds were closed, and that his organs were functioning. To them, he was the Konoha traitor who had almost caused the destruction of the village and did not deserve any of their pity. While Sakura did try to help him, on account of her old crush and the bonds that they once had as teammates, she was still Tsunade's apprentice, and did not have much time to treat him medically. In fact, her once a fortnight breaks were completely insufficient in helping him. The most that she could do in the half and hour sessions that she had with him was to alleviate the pain. There simply wasn't enough time to heal anything more.

Thus, when the trial ended, Sasuke had been a mess, emotionally and physically. He was sentenced to 3 years of confinement within the village, and restricted to missions B-rank and below. Considering his track record of S-rank missions under the Otokage, this was a severe blow to his ego. Physically, he was a constant walking ache, because though his organs were functioning fine, his torn muscles were healed improperly, while his broken ribs seemed to have set in their misplaced locations. He could not move properly without cringing, much less train. And as he was not trained as a medic nin, he could not help himself. What made things worse was that Sasuke in his never-changing loner attitude and independent mindset, refused to ask any of the other ninjas for help. He simply locked himself in the Uchiha mansion, and tried to treat himself with the largely inadequate medical books that he found in the mansion's library.

Then suddenly, a blond whirlwind blew into his life again, as it did when they just became genin.

Naruto had heard on his return that Sasuke was back, and without even stopping by his own apartment, he had headed straight for the Uchiha mansion. There he found Sasuke lying on his bed, gasping in pain as the jutsu for bone-healing went wrong for the 3rd time in a row. Naruto dropped his pack and teleported himself to Tsunade's room in the Hokage tower, where he proceeded to make a huge scene in yelling at the Hokage for not taking care of Sasuke. He then persuaded Tsunade to leave the Hokage tower and go down to the Uchiha mansion to help Sasuke.

Needless to say, Tsunade did. She never could refuse Naruto's request.

Sasuke was emancipated from the trial, and his persistent injuries did not help either. Even after Tsunade repaired most of his body, he remained weak and thin, almost waif-like. During his period of recovery, Naruto took only missions within the village so that he could take care of the Uchiha, cooking for him and putting him through the intensive physiotherapy routine set out by Tsunade. As his injuries had been left untreated for too long, Sasuke's muscles had mostly atrophied, and there were days when he simply could not wake himself up to go through even the basic motions. But Naruto was there, and he stepped in when Sasuke's determination faltered.

And when Sasuke had recovered sufficiently to go on missions again, Naruto to continue his "in-village" missions policy, only willing to leave the village on short, important missions, so that he could be around Sasuke.

After Sasuke was sent on his 8th cat catching mission of the month, he simply lost it. He headed for Itachi's old room in the mansion, and pretty much burnt the entire room to crisp. Naruto saw the smoke from his apartment in the village and teleported straight to the mansion, just in time to douse out the fire and prevent any more damage to the house. Sasuke, in his uncontrolled rage, turned on Naruto and started to pummel him with a viciousness that Naruto hadn't seen since he sparred with Sasuke as a Sound nin. But he never struck back. He merely defended himself, allowing Sasuke to vent out the frustration and anger he felt.

That, was the first of many incidents in which Naruto had to deal with the brunt of Sasuke's anger.

But what meant most of all to Sasuke, was that Naruto never asked about Sound.

He never asked about why Sasuke left, or why Sasuke returned simply because he DIDN'T have to. He knew instinctively that Sasuke had returned for his best friend, and he was grateful enough for that. Sasuke in turn, was appreciative that he did not have to go through the trauma of explaining himself again. It was embarrassing enough describing his epiphany to a disbelieving, geriatric council of 12.

Yes, sometimes the most complex of bonds were simple like that.

Sasuke didn't need to be injured horribly to miss his best friend, nor did news of his best friend being mutilated have to reach him. All it took was a Sapphire Martini to tell him the truth of what he wanted. Yes, he wanted to rebuild his clan, and yes, he wanted to kill his brother. But most of all, what he wanted was to be home. In all his time in Sound, he never felt like it was his home. It was more of a village-sized training ground for him. When he left Sound, he wasn't too sure where home was, and he continued to puzzle over this conundrum when he was back in Konoha. But the puzzle unraveled itself like a tangled knot when Naruto was with him.

If they say home is where the heart is, then Sasuke's heart was with Naruto.

So it really wasn't all that shocking when he found himself in a passionate make out session with Naruto a few months after his return from Sound. And the first time he said the three little words to Naruto and made their relationship official…

He knew he had come home.

* * *

**_9th October  
_**  
Sasuke created a chakra web in the air above the clearing, dotting it with dew drops at intervals. He finished off his masterpiece by adding a cradle in the middle of the web that hung straight down and gave him a place to put four large candles. When the candles were lit, the chakra strings seemed to glow, and together with the dew drops refracting the light, the sky above the training grounds became a mesmerizing artwork of glitter and shimmer.

It was nearly 8 by the time Sasuke finished setting up the picnic. He settled down to wait for Naruto, hoping, no, knowing that he would love his birthday celebration this year.

* * *

**_10th October_**

"Come here," Hinata spoke quietly.

Sasuke obediently settled down on the floor next to where his wife was sitting on the bed. She gently pressed his head into the side of his lap, comforting him.

"I think…" he whispered. "I think Na-chan finally gave up. I think he couldn't take how our dysfunctional relationship worked anymore…"

Hinata grimaced, as she continued stroking her husband's hair. He was in so distraught a state that she hadn't seen since the day of their wedding. She wanted to comfort him further, tell him that everything would be alright between him and Naruto, but there were more pressing issues at hand which she had to deal with, and she had to tell Sasuke about them. Almost as though Sasuke could read her mind, he raised his head and looked at her.

"Hinata-chan. You're usually asleep by this time. Why are you still up?"

Hinata took a deep breath that somehow got changed into a sob. Sasuke reached for her hand, wondering what had upset his kind-hearted, yet strong, wife.

"Sasuke-san, I overheard something today when I was over at the main house after you left for Naruto's birthday celebration," she said, turning her eyes away from him.

"And?"

"I overheard my father and his brother discussing," her voice broke slightly here. "They were discussing how they were going to take our child away from us once he or she is born."

Tears were streaming down Hinata's face by now. She hadn't cried when she just overheard the conversation, just merely returned to her home with Sasuke in a stoned, lost manner. But saying it out loud made it seem so much more real and horrific. And now that she started to speak, she couldn't stop.

"They're going to take our child away! The marriage was all just a big, fat, conspiracy to combine our two bloodlines and create a child with both the Byakugan and the Sharingan! They want a child who would be the ultimate weapon of the clan, and they will take him away to train him they'll take him away from us you hear me!"

Hinata's normally soft voice rose to a heart-wrenching shout, broken by her sobs and hiccups. She had turned her hand to clutch at Sasuke's, and the tightness of her grip showed her desperation. She did not love Sasuke in the manner of a wife, but she loved the child growing within her, for it was hers.

Sasuke's hand slipped out of Hinata's as he felt the strength go out of his body. He lost his family as a child to his psychotic brother, and he might have just lost his lover after successfully keeping their relationship afloat for 3 years.

Was he to lose his unborn child to the idiocy of a clan as well?

**(TBC)**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: My first ever Naruto fic is finally completed! Thank you for the reviews, they've been very encouraging and made this writer very, very happy! ) I know that my characters are kinda OOC, but I'm extrapolating their original characteristics in the manga into the events that I put them in, so I figured that Sasuke would be less cold, Naruto less loud and Hinata kinder than ever. ) Ashort note to make it easier to read this chapter. The time and dates and pasts apply to the section of the story all the way until a new date is stated.

With that, I hope you guys enjoy the last chapter! Oh, and to **MangaMonger31261**...it hasn't been 4 days! Lol

* * *

**Unconditional: The Day After**

_**10th October, 0700hrs**_

Naruto cringed as his alarm clock went off. He had no idea why he even bothered to set it as he had no plans to leave the house today. Slamming it off, he placed a hand over his closed eyes and tried to block out the wayward rays of sunlight that had stolen their way through the blinds and into his bed, contributing to the headache he had woken up with.

Last night had been a sleepless one. It was difficult to make his decision and walk away from Sasuke, but he had done it in the end. Naruto knew that it was a selfish decision made for selfish reasons, but he really could not live with the idea of sharing Sasuke anymore, not even with someone as sweet and kind as Hinata. It wasn't that Naruto's optimism and cheerfulness was a façade. That was him, he was the extrovert that looked at life and saw the beautiful and happy. But Naruto was a person with emotions after all, in fact, he felt more deeply than most.

He felt so much that he could not bring himself to communicate his decision to Sasuke. He had simply not turned up, and that had been the reason for his insomnia the previous night. He couldn't sleep, for every time he closed his eyes, he saw Sasuke looking lost and worried, sitting in the middle of the clearing alone. He felt incredibly disgusted at his own act of cowardice, but he was sure that if he even set pen to paper to say something to Sasuke, he would simply give up the notion of a break up and go running back to his lover.

Ex-lover now…

Well, what was done was done. 10th October would pass by quickly enough, and the first thing he would do on the 11th was to ask Tsunade-baachan for a long term mission out of the village, hopefully to somewhere like the Sand. That would make for a great place for relaxation and entertainment, because Gaara made the most amusingly obscene sand sculptures.

That would certainly take his mind off Sasuke.

* * *

Sasuke was slouched in the armchair which he had pulled from the vanity to the window. Behind him, Hinata had finally cried herself to sleep, tear tracks streaking her pale face. He had been rather worried, even while he dealt with the barrage of negativity that night, for he did not want anything to happen to either mother or child due to Hinata's emotional state. The Hyuuga heir was nearly 8 months along now, and the medic nins they had visited so far had warned her of a miscarriage in the event of extreme emotions as the body of the average kunoichi was unsuitable for carrying children. Their fat percentage was simply too low.

So when she had finally drifted off to sleep, her body still healthy and the baby safe, Sasuke felt that he could be thankful for these minor miracles.

Sasuke knew that to some extent, it was his bloody pride that put them into this mess, for if his dead clan's honor hadn't mattered so much to him, Naruto wouldn't be alone on his birthday and Hinata wouldn't be up in the duff and crying over the prospective loss of her baby. But he was sensible, and he knew that if there was someone else to be blamed for this entire fiasco, it would be Hyuuga Hiashi.

From what Sasuke had learnt thus far, Hiashi was the mastermind behind the conspiracy concerning their child. As the head of a clan as prestigious as the Hyuugas, he knew exactly which of Sasuke's buttons to push to goad him into the marriage. Also, he was the only one with sufficient power to make the decision on behalf of his clan to take away Hinata's child to be raised as a clan weapon.

Yes. Sasuke might have made his mistakes, but Hiashi was the one to be blamed for the state of affairs.

Still, Sasuke was but one Uchiha. He didn't think that he could get help from the other rookie 9, for many of them were from prestigious clans and well, two being tortured by their clans was better than everyone being dragged into the mud. So he was pretty much alone in this with Hinata. When his thoughts had reached this point, a sudden martial arts maxim that he was taught long ago in Iruka's class back in the Academy rose unbidden into his mind.

"_The basis of martial arts, whether from the far western countries, or from the Chinese, or simply what we know best as ninjutsu, is not to meet strength with strength. The best fighters do not complain about their lack of strength, but turn their opponent's strength against them."_

_Turn their opponent's strength against them…_ That's it! Sasuke suddenly straightened up in his chair. There was a way out now, but there were sacrifices to make. But when the stakes were high enough…

It really didn't matter how large the sacrifice was.

* * *

_**Past**_

Hyuuga Hiashi had an infuriating smirk on his face, a smugness that Sasuke wanted to use a metal brush to scratch right off his face. He knew that something was wrong. The past few times the man came to their house in the mansion was with a frown on his face and a black cloud over his head, demanding in loud boisterous tones why the hell wasn't his grandchild on the way yet. At the same time, he'd make insinuations on Sasuke being impotent, and also that he ill-treated his wife. And when the verbal assault reached its peak, Hiashi would start breaking things in the house.

Sasuke had lost many a family heirloom to the asinine behavior of the older man.

But as Hiashi stood before him, almost childishly waving a scroll in front of his face and giggling like a schoolgirl with a crush on her classmate, Sasuke knew that the Hyuuga head was up to no good. True enough, his next words confirmed Sasuke's suspicions.

"You see this, Uchiha? This is the copy of the scroll I just submitted to the village elders for authentication and safe-keeping. And you know what it says? It says that if you and Hinata don't conceive a child by the end of this year, she will be disowned instantly. Or if you ever, ever think of divorcing her, she'll be disowned too!"

It didn't make sense to Sasuke at first. Shouldn't he punish him instead of his own daughter? But Hiashi was shrewder than he gave him credit for.

"I know you, Uchiha, like I know myself. We're shinobi, and it isn't hard to sacrifice ourselves. But can you sacrifice a friend, a family member? You can't, boy. You will consummate your marriage with my daughter, and you will have a child soon. Because that's how you think, because that how you live…"

"Because that's how we're brought up to be like."

With that, Hiashi tossed the scroll at Sasuke and left the house, leaving the Uchiha heir enraged behind him. Opening the scroll, he saw that the contents were exactly what Hiashi described them to be. And as the scroll had already being approved by the village elders, it held true. He couldn't, and wouldn't, leave Hinata to such a fate. He had grown to know her as a friend during their few years of marriage, and this was not something you did to a friend.

Hiashi had found the one weakness of all shinobi.

* * *

_**10th October, 0730hrs**_

Sasuke had a plan all laid out in his mind, and he was going to use Hiashi's strength against him. The one advantage that the Hyuuga head had over Hinata and Sasuke was the scroll lodged with the elders, and instead of going against the disownment, Sasuke intended to use the very scroll that Hiashi lodged against him.

Sasuke could not believe that a genius that like him had not seen the loophole of Hiashi's acts before. For the head of a clan that had as many elite ninjas as the Uchihas, Hyuuga Hiashi was as mad as his own plans. But now that he had seen a way out, Sasuke wasn't going to let the matter go quietly.

In fact, he planned to take a leaf out of his blond lover's book and go with a resounding bang.

* * *

_**Past**_

They were cuddling on the couch in Naruto's apartment, with Naruto sprawled on Sasuke's chest. The couch had been a first year anniversary present from Sasuke to his blond lover, and it was extremely wide with soft cream colored covering. Sasuke had looked at Naruto suggestively as they watched the deliverymen struggle to move it through the apartment's narrow doorway, and it wasn't long before they christened it spectacularly.

There was none of that sort of activity going on at the moment, and the young couple was simply enjoying the company of each other, talking about random things when Naruto raised the question.

" 'suke, how do you want to go out?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrow.

"Well dobe, I first get dressed, then I put on my shoes, then I…"

Naruto let out a whine of mock annoyance and cut Sasuke off.

"Not that! I mean, how do you want to die?"

"I am a ninja, if you recall in that pretty, empty head of yours. I will probably die in battle, bloody and chopped to pieces before Konoha nin find and dispose of my body and…"

"Teme! I said how you **wanted** to die, not how you will die!"

At this, Sasuke went into a pensive silence. Brought up in a shinobi family, the only kind of death that he had known was of violence. But now Naruto's questions raised doubts in his mind on his concept of death.

"How about you, Na-chan? How do you want to go?"

"I want to die peacefully in my sleep so the Kyuubi wouldn't escape," Naruto said softly in a serious tone. Then, brightening up a little, he proper himself up on Sasuke's chest and continued.

"But that would be after I have been Hokage for many, many years! I want to be burnt on a funeral pyre half built of fireworks, so that I can illuminate the light of the city with my awesomeness! " he finished off, chuckling at his own rather childish choice of words.

"I want to die peacefully, but I want to go out with a BANG!"

It was not till later when they had both nearly drifted off to sleep when Sasuke heard Naruto's drowsy voice.

"Ne, 'suke… you never answered my question. How do you want to go out?"

Without opening his eyes or thinking, Sasuke answered.

"At the exact same moment as you, Na-chan, right next to you."

* * *

_**10th October, 0740hrs**_

As he sat pondering over his plan and the sacrifice that Hinata had to make in carrying it out, Sasuke realized something, and that was that he didn't believe that children had to be born out of like, much less love.

Since he was a young boy, he knew that he had to revive his clan even though he never found a girl that he loved, or even one that remotely interested him. He simply presumed that he would grow up and then picked someone that he could _tolerate_ to settle down with, and then start Operation: Re-populate Uchiha Clan. Of course, things never worked out as planned in life, but when he fell in love with a boy instead of a finding a girl who didn't irritate him, his notions of childbirth were reinforced. He never thought that he would have to sleep with a girl, but assumed that they would use _in vitro_ fertilization for a surrogate mother or simply adopt a child.

Additionally, the conception of a child with Hinata was perfect proof of his beliefs.

But what Sasuke did believe in, was that children were born to be loved. Unconditionally, in fact. It didn't matter what they looked like, what families they came from, or what kind of union resulted in them. The bottom line was children were to be treasured and protected. He hadn't even met his unborn child yet, but he had already spent many a night fretting over his inabilities to provide the best for his child. Certainly, his time with Naruto had made him a more emotionally human person, but he had still gone to Orochimaru before. But regardless of all that, he knew that he would try his best for his child, even if the best was far from perfect.

And part of trying his best was not to let his child be taken away from him because of some asinine plan of his wife's father.

There were two people that Sasuke had to consult to carry out his plan, the first of which was Hinata and the second, the Hokage. He watched as Hinata made the swift transition from sleep to alertness, repeating his "speech" to her over in his mind for the last time. It was rather heart-wrenching to hear the first thing to come out of her mouth was a soft sob as she remembered the words of her father from the previous day.

"Good morning, Hinata-chan."

Hinata merely stared at him. How the hell could he be so uncaring after what he heard? Sasuke could see disgust slowly appearing on her face, but he ploughed on anyway.

"I found a way out. But first of all, what do you think of becoming one of the Uchiha family, not as my wife, but as and adopted sibling?"

White eyes stared at him with a gaze more blank than usual. If not for his training under the many stares of his big brother, Sasuke would have flinched.

"It'll let us keep the baby…"

Determination crossed the Hyuuga's face.

"And it might," he added hesitantly, "help me get back with Naruto."

Hinata didn't even stop to think.

"I agree Sasuke. I'll agree to anything."

* * *

Getting to the Hokage tower was no easy task. In her heavily pregnant state, Hinata could not use any teleportation jutsus, and her emotional breakdown from the previous night had left her rather tired and weak, even with several hours of sleep. So a short journey that should have taken a genin less than 3 minutes to complete took nearly an hour for the jounin and his chuunin wife.

But once there, nothing could stop the couple. They strode forcefully down the hallway leading to Tsunade's office, completely disregarding the Anbu who tried to stop them in the way. Still, the Uchiha death glare and the Hyuuga blank stare was more than sufficient to turn them into stuttering dolls. After entering the office and closing the door behind him, Sasuke wasted no time in getting to the point.

"Hokage-sama, I wish to lodge a scroll with the village elders to adopt Hinata into the Uchiha family as my sibling as soon as my child is born."

Tsunade was not the Hokage for nothing. She saw right through the Uchiha's plan, and she was rather pleased with what was on the other side. But she had to find out what prompted the decision.

"Explain yourself, Sasuke. Explain why you two are doing this."

Sasuke related to Tsunade what Hinata had heard over at the Hyuuga main house, and after some thought, decided to come clean and told her about his relationship with Naruto. If she was shocked, she did not show it, but nodded her head gravely and thought through the situation properly. The plan was good, fail-proof in fact, and she knew how much Naruto loved the Uchiha. The outcome would be a positive one, protecting Hinata's child and Naruto's heart as well. Still, the changing of clans was a big issue, and as the Hokage, she had to ask for formality's sake.

"Hinata," she said, turning to the young woman, "are you sure of this? Once the scroll is lodged and approved, there will be no turning back. There will be no way for you to be a Hyuuga again, and there will be physical changes to deal with."

"Yes, Hokage-same, I'm sure," her voice soft but resolute. "Nothing is worth losing my child to the madness of my father. I watched Neji-niisan almost succumb to the politics of my clan, and there is no way I will subject my child to a life like that."

"Very well then, I will speak to the elders who are currently preparing the agenda for tonight's dinner in the next room as we speak. Stay here, and I will return with their decision whether they approve of your lodgment or not."

It was a nerve-wrecking wait for three quarters of an hour, but when Tsunade returned with a victorious smile on her face, Sasuke and Hinata let out a sigh of relief.

All that was left now was exiting the circumstances with a bang.

* * *

_**10th October, 1730h**_

The dinner was exactly the same as the previous 2 that Sasuke had attended. Pompous, pretentious and phony. The head of every clan of the village was present, and some of the more promising youngsters were attending the dinner as well. Shikamaru was there with Ino on holding his arm, while Sakura was there with Lee. The familiar sight of Kakashi with Iruka was present as well. The sight of the last couple left a bitter taste in Sasuke's mouth. He promised himself silently that when things were sorted out, he would stop hiding his relationship with Naruto. Villagers' opinions be damned! As he walked towards the entrance of the banquet hall, Sasuke could feel Hinata trembling from nervousness. He squeezed her arm gently in a manner that he hoped was comforting, trying to help her relax.

He could understand her feelings. After all, Hinata was the one losing her family name tonight, not him.

Disownment was a rare occurrence amongst ninja clans, for the general mentality was that they lost enough family members to dangerous missions, and did not need to lose the living ones as well. Sasuke suspected that Hyuuga Hiashi was willing to disown Hinata over an unborn child as he found her weak compared to her younger sister, Hanabi, and felt that there was little to lose gambling his elder daughter's happiness for a Uchiha-Hyuuga offspring.

Losing a family name meant many things to a ninja. It meant that your former clan members would cease to treat you like one of them, and this was most evident on the battlefield. They would not protect you like family, but look upon you as a comrade, to be sacrificed and plotted against for survival. It also meant that you were nameless, and stripped of all privileges of the clan and tossed out into the streets with nothing but the threads on your back.

But that was not the worst.

When a member of a family was disowned in Konoha, it was the law that the person would be subject to a jutsu performed by the Hokage. It was a painful process, but a necessity in any disownment. Ninjas have the practice of destroying the corpse of their dead to prevent jutsus and techniques from their village from being leaked to their enemies, and the mentality towards disowned members was the same. No clan wanted a person outside of the family to have the family bloodlines, with the incident between Kakashi and Obito being a one off event that earned the former many a glare from the Uchiha family. What the jutsu did was to switch off the genetic information coding for the bloodline, resulting in the ninja losing his or her bloodline abilities. It was an extremely painful process, and ninjas of weaker dispositions sometimes did not survive the procedure.

This was often accompanied with a demotion, usually 2 ranks down. For some ninjas who are overly dependent on their bloodline limits, it pretty much spelt the end of their careers. The bloodline jutsu was more than a livelihood for ninjas. It was the ability that saved them, and many a teammate, from the jaws of death.

Sasuke respected Hinata for being able to chose and make such a sacrifice for their child, which was why he intended to adopt her as his sister.

Just as it was possible to remove one's bloodline limit with a jutsu, it was possible to gift one's bloodline limit to an adopted member of the family through a jutsu. A blood exchange would take place, followed by a jutsu being performed, again, by the Hokage. It was simple enough a ritual, but there was great danger in doing so. The Sharingan had driven the last adopted member of the Uchiha family mad after the exchange, for his brain simply was not wired to handle the overload of information that came with the limit. But Sasuke was confident that Hinata would survive the adoption, for the Byakugan was genetically related to the Sharingan. In addition, the Byakugan's abilities surpassed the Sharingan, so Hinata should be well able to handle the Sharingan.

* * *

_**10th October, 1750hrs**_

When the guests had settled down at their respective dinner tables, Tsunade stepped up to the podium, tapped the mike and cleared her throat to get the attention of those present.

"Good evening one and all, welcome to the annual defeat commemoration dinner. Before we begin this year, we have a request from the head of the Uchiha clan to allow him a few words. Uchiha-san, please."

Sasuke walked up to the podium with a rather cold expression on his face. _This was it_, he thought to himself. _There's no turning back after this_. He gripped the mike tightly, adjusted it to his height, and looked over to Hinata to see if there was any hesitation in her face. What he saw was a soft smile on her lips and slight nervousness in her poise. Her blank eyes somehow contained an emotion that could only be read as Hinata trying to convey strength to him.

"Good evening, I apologize for delaying tonight's meal, but Hinata and I have an announcement to make to the village, in particular, my wife's father, Hyuuga Hiashi."

"I married Hyuuga Hinata out of obligation, for she was pledged to me, and I to she since we were children. We didn't find out about it until a week before our marriage, but things worked in the marriage. We lived quietly and had little to deal with. In all aspects, we were friends living together instead of a couple."

"Then we were threatened by Hyuuga Hiashi, who threatened to disown Hinata if we did not conceive a child by the end of this year, or if I ever left Hinata. The threat was put down on scroll."

A collective gasp rose from the audience. "Disownment?" they murmured, "For such a small issue?"

"So we did. We consummated our marriage to protect Hinata, but now things have changed again. Hinata found out that Hyuuga Hiashi is leading a conspiracy within the Hyuuga clan take our child away from us to train him or her up to be a super soldier."

The crowd tittered with displeasure. Yes, some ninjas were trained to be unfeeling and uncaring, but they were never conceived for the purpose of doing so. In fact, some members of the audience were so outraged that they stood up to protest.

"Hiashi! How could you?" Aburame Shibi yelled from across the hall. "That is an absolutely disgraceful thing to even think of!"

Shikamaru's father got to his feet and joined the Aburame head in berating Hiashi.

"Hiashi, Shibi's right. She's your daughter. You shouldn't…"

Hiashi wasn't going to just sit and take the abuse, he jumped to his feet, knocking over the table in front of him ready to defend himself.

"You honorable idiots on your wooden high horses! You're all hypocrites! Tell me honestly, which of you wouldn't give up a weakling to have a weapon with both Sharingan and Byakugan?"

Two Anbu at the door way were instantly by Hiashi's sides when he started to shake his fists at the other two clan heads, and were soon physically restraining him from actually having a go at them. Disgust towards Hiashi's words was obvious to many faces in the crowd, and on stage, Sasuke tapped the mike roughly to get the attention of his audience again.

"So Hinata and I have made a decision. We have signed our divorce papers as of this afternoon, and she is no longer my wife. According to Hyuuga Hiashi's scroll, this means that Hinata has been disowned, and she is no longer part of the Hyuuga family. The child in her, who in Konoha law is not considered a separate person yet, is without a family name just like her."

"Hokage-sama has very graciously allowed the disownment jutsu to be performed after the birth of our child; for fear that the child will be affected by the chakra movement in its mother's body. After that, I will be performing the adoption blood ritual with her, whereupon she will take on the family name of Uchiha and the position of my sister."

"That's all I have to say. Hinata and I will be taking our leave now."

The crowd was silent, as though it was contemplating and processing the information that they had just been provided with. It had never been done before, for no clan was willing to incur the wrath of another by adopting someone that had been disowned. Especially if was a clan as large and as powerful as the Hyuuga clan. Adopting someone in such a situation was akin to condoning the act for which his clan had disowned him for.

But Sasuke was pretty much a one-man show when it came to the Uchiha clan, and he really didn't care. The Hyuugas could come down on him as hard as they wanted to. He would simply fight back twice as hard to protect the ones that he loved. In addition, Hinata had not done anything wrong. It was her father's madness that drove them to make such a choice.

Sasuke offered his arm to Hinata, and the two walked out of the banquet hall slowly with their heads held high. Somewhere in the background, they could hear Hinata's father yelling and shouting at them, but they didn't care. They had done what needed to be done, and they were damn well going to be proud and live with their choices. But it still felt good, when hesitant claps started in the room. Hyuuga Neji was the first to stand and applaud his cousin for her bravery, for he himself had escaped from the fate that was dictated to him by his clan and did not wish such a life upon his niece or nephew. He was soon joined by the other ninjas in the room who were familiar with the young couple. Sasuke in turn, was applauded for his daring to stand up as alone against the tide.

And so it was to a resounding round of applause and cheers that Sasuke and Hinata walked out of the banquet hall.

* * *

It took a long quiet walk for Hinata and Sasuke to reach their home, but as soon as they were at their destination, Hinata walked through the doorway and turned around to push Sasuke away.

"Go on. Go celebrate Naruto's birthday with him."

Sasuke, now tired after the rush of adrenaline he felt when he addressed the guests at the banquet, let the sadness that he had buried in preparing for the night wash over him.

"I can't, Hinata. Thing is, I'm not sure what I even did wrongly. He just…he just didn't show up. We've celebrated every occasion a day early for the past two years. Nothing would have cropped out, because he would have kept yesterday free just out of habit. I know Naruto. I…"

"Obviously don't know him as well as you thought you did," Hinata finished Sasuke's sentence for him. "Think about it. Why would any person want to celebrate Valentine's Day on the 13th, so that his lover could be out with his wife on the 14th? Or be all alone on Christmas was it's a day to be spent with family and loved ones? Sasuke, Naruto didn't turn up because he was tired of being a day early. Now don't be silly and go to him."

Sasuke froze as Hinata's words reached him. He was a fool, wasn't he? To have missed something as obvious as that. Naruto deserved much better than that, than simply being with Sasuke on Sasuke's schedule.

And now, he was going to make things right.

"Hinata-chan…"

"Do we have anymore of those cupcakes you made two days ago?"

Hinata smiled as she stepped aside to let Sasuke into the house to prepare for his celebration with Naruto. Things were going to be fine after all.

* * *

_**10th October, 2317hrs**_

Sasuke stood outside Naruto's apartment door, pounding hard on the cheap plywood and wincing as the neighbors yelled at "the fucking idiot who's making too much noise and deserved to be castrated". It was late now, nearly midnight, for it had taken quite sometime for him to prepare. The cupcakes that Hinata had made were no longer fresh, and the couple spent a good part of the evening creating a fresh batch. Sasuke kept making silly errors, even with the memory of his Sharingan guiding him due to his nervousness of seeing Naruto again and his anxiousness to finish baking the cakes. The entire baking procedure had been littered with conversations initiated by the Uchiha who was being exceedingly out of character.

* * *

_**10th October, 1930hrs**_

"Hinata-chan, what if Naruto doesn't like vanilla icing?"

"Hinata-chan, what if Naruto stomps on the cupcakes tonight?"

"Hinata-chan, what if Naruto stomps on ME tonight?"

"Hinata-chan…"

Hinata was amused at first, but when Sasuke tried to put MSG into the batter for the 4th time, the amusement rapidly turned into frustration and annoyance. She had shooed the Uchiha out from the kitchen with a sharp crack to his head with her wooden spoon.

"Stop getting in my way, you pansy! Just…go change or something!"

* * *

_**10th October, 2322hrs**_

Naruto had been studiously ignoring the knocking on his door for five minutes, but as the knocker got more persistent (and his neighbors more vulgar), he forced himself to get out of the bed he had been lazing in to open the door.

" 'suke?" his blue eyes widened in shock. "What…why…"

"No time to talk!"

With that, Sasuke pulled the surprised blonde into his arms and formed the teleportation jutsu signs behind Naruto's back.

* * *

They arrived at the training grounds with Sasuke's arms still tightly wrapped around Naruto. It was only then that Sasuke realized that Naruto was wearing nothing but a pair of black, low slung lounge pants, and he relished the warmth of Naruto's bare chest seeping through his shirt. Then Naruto started to squirm out of the Uchiha's tight grasp once he got over his initial shock, noting the Uchiha's disappointment as he let him go.

Naruto took a deep breath, ready to yell at Sasuke when his breath was completely stolen from him by the sight of the clearing.

A delicate chakra web adorned the starry ceiling of the clearing, lighting up the ground beneath it in a dreamy, fairy light glow when the moonlight passed through the silvery strings and were refracted at different angles. The dew drops at intervals on the web gleamed, while the four simple candles in the cradle of the web just added to the elegance of the entire setting.

Sasuke looked at the amazement in Naruto's face and felt his disappointment drain away from him. _Maybe tonight wouldn't be so bad after all_. After he had been kicked out of the kitchen by Hinata, he went down to the training grounds to re-create the chakra web from the night of the 8th. Naruto never got to see it, and Sasuke really wanted to do something special for him. He had then gone home to pick up the cupcakes and a bottle of wine and glasses and transported them to the training grounds before heading over to Naruto's apartment to pick him up.

He quietly stepped up to the blond's side, and softly spoke.

"Do you like it?"

Naruto nodded numbly. Chakra outside the body was hard to control, which explained the difficulty of mastering the Chidori and Rasengan. But the two had no specific forms; rather, they took on the form of what the jutsu directed them to be. Drawing a chakra web didn't have a jutsu, and the creator would have required great control, concentration and determination to mould and force the chakra into shape, while maintaining for long periods of time was something that only very exceptional ninjas could do. It was an extremely strenuous task, and Sasuke must have really put a lot of effort into making tonight special for him.

"Naruto…Hinata and I are no longer married."

"But what about her family name?"

Sasuke shook his head.

"Gone. But it doesn't matter. What I need you to do now is to listen to me."

Naruto nodded again. He owed Sasuke that much after not turning up on the 8th.

"Naruto, I'm sorry for the past 2 years and more. I've been a real idiot. To start off with, I should never have chose my family pride over you. It wasn't worth it, nothing is. I'm sorry for putting you in the backseat, and I'm sorry for the loneliness I've caused for you every birthday, Valentine's Day, and every day that I wasn't with you when I should have been."

"You've been unconditional in your love for me, continuing our relationship and sharing me with Hinata, but all I've done is to cause you sadness."

"Naruto, I promise you, there will be no more of this. No more celebrating a day early, no more hiding from the public. No more notes under the door, no more sneaking around in the shadows. It'll be walking down the street hand in hand in broad daylight from now on. But all I need to know now is…"

"Can I still call you my Na-chan?" Sasuke finished off softly.

Naruto spun around and flung himself at Sasuke, hugging him close as his tears started to fall. His 'suke was with him on his birthday, and would be for every birthday to come. Nothing else mattered now.

"Yes 'suke…oh yes…"

* * *

When the boys had brought their emotions under control sufficiently, Sasuke lead Naruto over to the picnic mat which he laid down on the floor. They ate the cupcakes that Hinata had prepared, while Sasuke slowly explained to Naruto the situation of his marriage with Hinata. The rather one-sided conversation ended off with a soft kiss that Naruto planted on Sasuke's lips.

"I'm proud of you 'suke. But you and Hinata aren't alone in this. From what you've told me, most of the village will be behind you against Hyuuga Hiashi…"

"And at the very least, the two of you have me on your side."

Sasuke hugged his Na-chan tightly. **_His_ **Na-chan. That sounded so damn good. He lowered his head to capture Naruto's lips in a kiss, a kiss that was filled with promises of love, happiness, and a future together. Things wouldn't go smoothly from now on, Sasuke knew, for relationships never did. Naruto and he would have their little squabbles, maybe even big fights, while Hyuuga Hiashi would make life as difficult for them as he could, but with his Na-chan next to him, he could take on the world.

Naruto lets out a soft moan as Sasuke's tongue caressed his upper palate, savoring the love that he felt emanating from his lover. And in the background, the bell in the village clock tower started to chime, signaling the arrival of midnight and a new day.

* * *

_**11th October, 0001hrs**_

Sasuke pulled away softly from Naruto as the last chime's echoes faded into a distance. He smiled at the blissful look on Naruto's face, and before he leaned in to kiss those soft, pink lips again, he whispered.

"I promise you, Na-chan that we'll never celebrate anything the day before again. We will spend every day that we can together, and celebrate every occasion on the day itself."

Naruto smiled, his eyes shining with happiness in the dim light of the chakra web.

Dropping his voice to a more seductive tone and brushing his lips lightly against Naruto's ear, Sasuke continued…

"And after every celebration, I'll be fucking so hard that you can't walk the next day…"

Naruto blushed at his lover's words and raised his hand to smack Sasuke lightly on his shoulder.

" 'suke! Don't be a hentai like Kakashi-sensei!"

Sasuke laugh, allowing Naruto a little time to pout at his words before he finished off what he wanted to say.

"Shhh. I'm not finished yet."

A questioning gaze was directed at him from the flushed face under blond locks.

"Then I'll be there with you right through the night, and in the morning, I'll greet you with a 'good morning', then a soft kiss," at this point, Sasuke kissed Naruto's cheek lightly as if the illustrate his point, "and pamper and take care of you in everyway possible."

"Na-chan, I promise you that it's not going to be the day before for us anymore. It'll always be the day itself and every day after from now on."

With that, Sasuke bent over to press his lips against Naruto's again.

* * *

As Naruto happily responded to his lover's sweet kisses, an unbidden thought sprang into his mind.

_Well, it looks like the day after my birthday will be a rather busy one. Gaara and his sand sculptures would just have to wait…_

**The End!**


End file.
